Minutemen @ MindSay

Members of the Minutemen Project have begun patroling the El Paso border with Mexico and will continue operations in other stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border. The ACLU has responded by sending their own volunteers to keep an eye on the Minutemen.

Those are the facts, now comes the opinion.

In this entry, I will try to make two points. The first is that we a broken immigration policy. Our government has failed to secure our borders, which has made us extremely unsafe and created a virtually open border that will have huge political and economic repercussions.

This lax immigration policy has created an environment in which more illegal immigrants are entering the U.S. than legal ones. This is unfair to prospective immigrants who are playing by the rules and waiting their turn in their home countries in order to enter the U.S. legally.

It is also unfair to legal immigrants already here. I don't buy the notion that illegal immigrants are taking Americans' jobs. That argument is simply ridiculous. The vast majority of illegal immigrants are unskilled an uneducated. However, illegal immigrants are taking the jobs of legal, tax-paying immigrants with a similar background.

The current situation is also hurting the U.S. economy, especially by way of entitlements. Entitlements to illegal immigrants are huge, there's no doubt about it This is especially true in states like California, where the number of illegal immigrants is huge and government programs are easily obtained. Add that to the fact that little, if any, tax revenue comes in from recepients of government entitlements who are here illegally. 

All this shows the government's failure to do anything about the current immigration system and illustrates the urgent need for reform.

My second point is about private activism and the role of checks and balances, not only in government, but in society at large.

The situation is fascinating. Minutemen patrol the border with vigor and a sense of duty. Out of frustration with the massive failures of our leaders, they take it upon themselves to protect our borders from terrorists and to curb illegal immigration. Until now, the organization has been peaceful in its efforts.

The ACLU on the other hand, plays the role of regulator. Volunteers for the civil liberties group are also near the border. Their very prescense on the scene ensures that the likelyhood of abuse by the Minutemen is minimized, if not eliminated. I believe both groups are generally sincere in their efforts.

We will never, as a society, agree on everything, so it's a good thing to see concerned citizens doing what they believe is right in a peaceful manner. I am not a fan of either of these organizations, but I will say that our nation's leaders could learn a lot about checks and balances from a situation like this, especially at a time when checks and balances seemingly mean nothing to any of our three government branches

I have had nothing intelligent to say this week. Is this called a 'writers bloc'?

Maybe I'll get some inspiration up by Concord, MA this weekend when I visit Walden Pond and Minuteman NHP. There is lots of history there, and the 'Battle Road' is beautifully untouched from that period beginning April 18th and April 19th in 1775. You can just imagine the running battle that was fought there, beginning with the ride of Paul Revere to warn such people as Samuel Adams and John Hancock that the 'British were coming!'

We all remember that 'One if by land, two if by sea' saying that we learned so profusely in elementary school.

In Concord, the village green where the first Americans died is still nicely preserved. It was here that the commander of the American militia uttered the famous words: "Stand your ground; don't fire unless fired upon, but if they mean to have a war, let it begin here."

The militiamen had formed up the entire length of the road from Concord and Lexington back to Boston. A running rebel battle was fought utilizing guerilla warfare against the highly organized British troops. All along the road today, you can still find markers that say "British troops are buried near this place", as the harrowing retreat back to Boston did not allow for the English to take their dead with them.

A friend of Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, wrote a poem that immortilized the event and gave us the term "The shot heard 'round the world'."

It's a fascinating place, only 12 miles outside Boston, where you can also visit the Old North Church which displayed the lanterns that warned of the British approach.

The Revolutionary War was an amazing thing, with regular people with jobs and families rising up to overthrow a corrupt money-making machine that was in bed with big business at the time. They were true patriots and minutemen, not to be confused with the thugs that are disgracing their good name by patrolling the border attempting to keep out illegal immigrants (immigrants that big business wholeheartedly endorses, I might add).

Can you imagine today giving up all you had with the specter of treason and death hanging over your head to fight for an ideal that was tangible and ready to grasp? This wasn't a religious war, marked by mythical fervor. This was a war marked by intellectualism and the fight to make this country a beacon free from corruption and forever secure in self-determination.

It's sad to see what this country has become and how those in power seek to deflect the real causes of our disintegration by demonizing others. It's the gays, it's those elite intellectual secularists. It's the professors at college, it's those with a high education that look down their nose at everyone else.

Once you've demonized education and intellect to embrace a fervent theocracy, you've lost the entire vision that has made this country great. This country was never based on religion. This country was never tied inexoriably to the Bible.

This country was an experiment, and intellectual leap that overthrew all notions of what was worth fighting for. Those who seek to change our past to better define our future on their own terms wish for everyone to forget what the real problem is, and what we really stand for.

It's sad, when people like Bush, DeLay, Frist, and Cheney are nearly indistinguishable from England's King George and the Dutch West India Company.